12 BULLETIN 1322, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE : 
Of the various factors with upward trends, however, increments in 
valuation per acre were the most striking. Increments per acre were 
much larger than increments per $100 worth of real estate during 
the years when it took from 1 to 5 acres to be worth $100. Even in 
1920 the increment per $100 worth of real estate was nearly double 
what it was in 1896, considering the trend ordinates of these terminal 
years. 
. FACTORS WITH DOWNWARD TRENDS 
Of the factors affecting the economic position of the owners of 
these farms the following had downward trends between 1896 and 
1920: 
AMOUNTS PER ACRE 
Physical yield of wheat. 
Cost of plowing. 
Cost of repairs. 
AMOUNTS PER BUSHEL 
Wheat price spread between Amenia and Liverpool. 
AMOUNTS PER $100 VALUE 
Wheat price spreads between Amenia, on one hand, and Minneapolis and 
Liverpool, on the other. 
Interest on money borrowed on first mortgage security. 
Taxes on real estate at current market valuations. 
Net rents from real estate at current market valuations. 
The decrease in the amount of primary net rent per $100 worth 
of real estate was at an annual rate of 2.7 per cent. The correspond- 
ing rates of decrease in physical yield of wheat land was 2.2 per cent, 
and in amount of interest paid per $100 borrowed was 1.1 per cent. 
. These three factors had trends best represented by compound dis- 
count curves. 
To bring all nine items into comparison, the steepness of descent 
is best measured in terms of the ordinates of 1896 and 1920. The 
1920 ordinates of three factors were about half those of 1896. These 
are repairs per acre, real estate taxes per $100 valuation of real es- 
tate, and wheat price spreads per $100 worth between Amenia and 
Minneapolis. 
The reduction in the wheat-price spread per $100 worth between 
Amenia and Liverpool was greater than that shown in any other > 
item. In 1920 the ordinate of trend in this case was between a 
fifth and a sixth of what it was in 1896. 
INTERRELATION OF TRENDS 
One of the purposes in tracing the trends in factors affecting the 
ownership of these farms is to ascertain wherein they show indi- 
vidual and related characteristics. 
There was a decline in physical yields on these farms. The down- 
ward trend in the yield of wheat land is one evidence. A com- 
parison of the trends of crop receipts per acre (shown in Table 5) 
with the price trends of products raised seems to indicate that the 
decline in physical yields extended to land in other crops as well. 
Despite the tendencies toward lower physical yields there was a 
trend toward a higher value produced per acre, as evidenced here 
